stuff throughout, as also of the
cost of piling the roadway, and in effect constructing a four mile
viaduct of timber across the Moss, from twenty to thirty feet high from
the foundation. The expense appalled the directors, and the question
arose, whether the work was to be proceeded with or _abandoned_!

Mr. Stephenson afterwards described the alarming position of affairs at a
public dinner at Birmingham (23rd December, 1837), on the occasion of a
piece of plate being presented to his son, upon the completion of the
London and Birmingham Railway. He related the anecdote, he said, for the
purpose of impressing upon the minds of those who heard him the necessity
of perseverance.

"After working for weeks and weeks," said he, "in filling in materials to
form the road, there did not yet appear to be the least sign of our being
able to raise the solid embankment one single inch; in short we went on
filling in without the slightest apparent effect. Even my assistants
began to feel uneasy, and to doubt of the success of the scheme. The
directors, too, spoke of it as a hopeless task: and at length they became
seriously alarmed, so much so, indeed, that a board meeting was held on
Chat Moss to decide whether I should proceed any further. They had
previously taken the opinion of other engineers, who reported
unfavourably. There was no help for it, however, but to go on. An
immense outlay had been incurred; and great loss would have been
occasioned had the scheme been then abandoned, and the line taken by
another route. So the directors were _compelled_ to allow me to go on
with my plans, of the ultimate success of which I myself never for one
moment doubted."

During the progress of this part of the works, the Worsley and Trafford
men, who lived near the Moss, and plumed themselves upon their practical
knowledge of bog-work, declared the completion of the road to be utterly
impracticable. "If you knew as much about Chat Moss as we do," they
said, "you would never have entered on so rash an undertaking; and depend
upon it, all you have done and are doing will prove abortive. You must
give up the idea of a floating railway, and either fill the Moss hard
from the bottom, or deviate so as to avoid it altogether." Such were the
conclusions of science and experience.

In the midst of all these alarms and prophecies of failure, Stephenson
never lost heart, but held to his purpose. His motto was "Persevere!"
"You must go